RORY MCILROY’S FIRST tournament as a Nike golfer ended prematurely as the world number one missed the cut and crashed out of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship today.

The 23-year-old shot another round of three-over par 75 and finished way down the leaderboard on six-over.

There was bad news too for his Team Swoosh stablemate Tiger Woods who was hit with a two-stroke penalty for a rules infringement and missed the cut by a shot.

Earlier this week McIlroy was unveiled as the new face of Nike golf but he appeared to struggle in his first tournament with the new equipment and was spotted today using his old Scotty Cameron putter.

He was asked about the change in the post-round press conference:

Q: What’s the story with the putter?

McIlroy: I just felt like the greens that I’ve been practicing on in Florida are  a lot faster than these.  The putter, the Nike putter is great on that. But then getting to here, it’s just a lighter –so it’s just a weight issue more than anything else.  I can feel the head of this one I used today a little bit better.  On fast greens, the other one works fine.

Q: Certainly everything else about you is Nike, so that now isn’t. Is that allowed in the contract?

McIlroy: I’m not here to talk about my contract.  I’m here to talk about my golf, and today it wasn’t so good.

[...]

Q: I notice you changed putter today. Tell us about that decision and whether it’s been a long-term one or not?

McIlroy:  It was just for these greens this week.  I felt like the greens were pretty slow out there.  The Nike putter that I used yesterday is a little light, a little lighter, and it was just a weight issue more than anything else. I feel like the one I used today was a little heavier and I was able to get the ball to the hole. Even when I got the ball to the hole, it still didn’t go in. The change was to no avail.

‘It’s not about the clubs’ — Blame me not the new Nike gear, says McIlroy